Memories
by Petague Killaboo
Summary: Memories are a collection of moments. Each moment containing bits of information that are stored safely in the mind, like files in a filing cabinet. Unfortunately, Iruka's seemed to have lost the key to unlock his memories and it is up to his friends and village to help him find it before Danzo and Eiji try to break him open. Sequel to Forgotten and Ravings of a Mad Man.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Naruto and I am not being paid for this.

Continuation of Forgotten and Ravings of a Mad Man.

Author note at the end.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 1: Missing More**

Memories are a collection of moments. Each moment containing bits of information that could be recalled or stored safely in the mind, like files in a filing cabinet. Those that were practitioners in storing information or favored the Sherlock Holms series would call the cabinet a Memory Palace. These Memory Palaces could take on any form. Some were like giant Edo period castles. Others a small house with lots of framed pictures, but this Memory Palace was a forest.

A never-ending forest with shelves carved into large redwood trunks and books or scrolls crammed into every available space. Loose-leaf papers littered the grassy floor, plush and green like new spring grass. Overhead the miles of branches weaved and twisted around one another. Their multicolored autumn leaves danced on an intangible breeze and sunlight trickled between the gaps casting dancing patterns on top of the wood, books, and scrolls.

Inoichi and his daughter Ino stood gaping at the mindscape before them, surprised by the vastness and beauty of Umino's mind. Inoichi moved with careful steps weary of the potential traps and defenses that Umino might have in place for intruders. "First things first," he said in a smooth commanding voice, "we must find Umino-sensei."

"I'm right here," a soft voice called from behind them. Inoichi and Ino whirled around and with fist raised ready to fight. Umino sat behind a large stump piled high with loose white papers.

There were two things Inoichi noted at once. The first were the white bandages and hospital gown that covered Umino. It spoke a great deal about how assured Umino was of himself to appear unchanged in his mind. Most people created personas or were over exaggerations of themselves, like Gai's mind all sparkles and manliness with muscles twice as big than in real life. The second thing Inoichi noted was the young appearances of Umino Iruka. In reality, he was nearing 30 and had grown into a full man. All hard and strong lines chiseled by life experiences. This Umino was young, perhaps barely 17. A testament to the memories Umino had lost.

"You look a little confused," Umino said shifting in his chair.

"We weren't excepting to find you so soon," Inoichi stated truthfully. He had been prepared to spend at least an hour hunting for the teacher.

"I did say I would cooperate. It wouldn't do to leave you wondering around in here. Time is of the essence as Lady Hokage keeps stressing." Slowly he clambered to his feet and stepped around the large stump.

"Well then, where should we start?" Inoichi looked around.

"Is there some damage trees, Iruka-sensei?" Ino asked walking toward the teacher.

Umino showed no recognition of knowing Ino. "No. That's not how this jutsu works."

Ino perked up. "So you've remembered something!" she said excitedly.

"No, I figured out some of it by process of eliminations and known categories of mind jutus that I have memory of," Umino corrected as he sat back on the stump and crossed his arms over his chest.

Ino slumped slightly. Her pale green eyes reflecting the disappointment she felt. Inoichi felt for his daughter. He hadn't wanted to bring her along knowing the hope she was harboring that her teacher might remember her. If one of the other clan members had been free he would have brought them instead, but as it stood his daughter was the only one not running a mission or interrogating someone. Beside, Inoichi thought, this would be a good training even if it was under poor circumstances. Ino would learn the basic of the inner mind invasion and who better to learn on then her former teacher, memory loss not with standing.

"Well, what have you put together?" Inoichi asked.

"Well first it's not a genjutsu of any kind. Or a ninjutsu. There are no damaged trees. No missing scrolls or books, or even pages for that matter. So I would say a Fuinjutsu of some type. A seal, maybe."

"Hatake-san mission report did state that he had walked in on you painting something on your forehead."

"Which is why I said Fuinjutsu and well," Umino paused in thought and then nodded to himself, "I found something interesting." He walked over to one of the nearest tree shelves and plucked as scroll off a shelf at eye level. He walked over to Inoichi and held the scroll out. "Mostly everything has this weird thing on it."

Inoichi took the scroll carefully and unfurled it. He didn't see anything. It was just blank. "There isn't anything here." Umino blinked at him and then at the scroll before waving a hand over it. Slowly a weird squiggly line that curled and loop several times in different angles shimmered into existence. "What is this?"

"You're the mind expert. Thought you might know."

"These papers don't have it," Ino pointed out. The papers on the stump had neatly written characters on it. Ino reached to pick a page up but Umino placed a bandage hand over hers.

"You should be careful when you're in other people's head," he said warningly, "as a Yamanaka, you should know what these represent and what can happen if you aren't careful. You might be pulled into a memory and have a hard time getting out. The last thing I want to do is explain to the Hokage why one of her nins has gone catatonic."

"Sorry," Ino withdrew her hand and looked away ashamed or at least it was a good act of ashamed. Inoichi could see the slight smile at the corner of his daughter's lips. She was happy about being scolded.

It made sense, Inoichi reasoned, in a weird sorta way. She was probably thinking how much of a teacher Umino sounded. Inoichi thought Umino sounded like the old Umino-sensei, calm and commanding in his speech as he lectured Inoichi's daughter. He cleared his throat breaking the little moment, "I've never seen this before."

"Right, I looked through the memories I have access to but I haven't found anything. All I've noticed is that there are more gaps then I realized."

He frowned at that and analyzed the information quickly. "Memories you have access to?"

Iruka nodded once.

"What else is missing?" Ino asked, catching onto her father's line of thought.

Umino looked down at his bare feet and crinkled his toes in the grass. "Some of my childhood, genin years, and all of my chunin years which I'm guessing started at 16 or 17. I'm, to be honest, not sure of my age."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know my birthdate, or my parents' faces. Whatever jutsu I used sure did a number on me."

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach and from the look on Umino's face he had the same feeling. "I know we asked this once before, but what do you remember?"

"I remember walking way from the memorial stone and heading toward the Hokage."

"Before that?"

Iruka didn't answer.

"After that?"

Iruka didn't answer. He didn't need to. All his memories, except for that day, were gone.

* * *

"So," The Fifth's drawled, "What are you saying exactly?"

Inoichi looked at his leader with a mighty frown. The other occupants in the room mirrored his expression. Six weeks had passed since they'd begun trying to reclaim the lost information, but everything they tried had failed.

The odd squiggly symbol was a dead end. No seal user had ever seen it before, or Hatake-san for that matter. If the man of a thousand jutsus and former student of the seal master the Fourth Hokage didn't know, then no one would know.

"As my report states Hokage-sama," Inoichi flexed his jaw. He really didn't want to deliver this news. Not to the people in this room. Not to his daughter, or her friends, or the elders glaring at him from the corner. "The knowledge that Umino Iruka has access to," he paused again. The hopeful looks were too much. The glimmer in his daughter's pale green eyes broke his heart. "Only pertains to a single day. That includes any shinobi knowledge he might have had that day. But the information, such as his birthday, parents names, or former teammate have been sealed and we have no way of unlocking them."

"Explain further." The Fifth commanded in an iron hard voice. "What do you mean when you say, Shinobi knowledge pertaining to that day?"

Inoichi shifted. The crushed look of Sakura and Ino nearly did him in, but it was the look on Naruto's face that killed him. The pain and sadness in his eyes, the way the usually cheerful boy's shoulders sagged. Inoichi didn't want to go on.

"Yamanaka."

He flinched. Duty was duty he reminded himself. With a gathering breath he spoke very clearly. Pronouncing each word so as not to be misunderstood. "After several weeks working with Umino, we came to the conclusion that he had been using the seal often to lock way information. After reviewing some of the mission reports, we determined that the reason for most of these seals was to protect the village from possible danger should Umino have ever been captured by enemy shinobi." He took another breath, "Umino believes that he might have sealed some memories when he was learning how to use the seal. There is also the possibility that he sealed other memories to escape the pain of the shinobi life. I believe that to be a plausible reason as there are several reports in his file stating mental health issues with several missions. As well as a report written by the Third stating that Umino was given a year of rest due to waning mental health. This report is written around that same time that Umino had put in a request to be removed from active duty."

Inoichi paused, gathering himself again. Tears were staining his daughter's cheeks now. "Umino has confessed, Hokage-sama, that the day he remembers, October 6th of Rat, he had completed another sealing on a batch of memories. He claimed after he completed the sealing he had been summoned by the Third to discuss his future as a shinobi and that he had every intention of turning him down."

He was fighting hard now not to run to his daughter and swoop her up in his arms and promise her he'd bring the sensei she knew back. "The working knowledge, are the jutsus that he knew then Hokage-sama. We wrote out a list. It's in the report." The list was a small leather bound book containing over 600 jutsus that Umino knew, a large a moment for a low-rank chunin. "The list is broken down into the jutsus he can preform and the jutsus he knows the mechanics to." The Fifth was already leafing through the book. "You can understand why the Third wanted him to teach and keep him close."

"Why does he only remember this day?" the Fifth's face was carefully schooled blank. It was clear she was ignoring the quiet sobs of Ino and Sakura. Naruto was painfully silent, tears weren't falling but they looked like they would soon.

"I don't know. He doesn't know. All he is curtain of," he stopped again, "after reading the last report of the mission to Rock, Umino is curtain of only one thing. He had meant for his entire mind to be sealed. Something must have prevented the completion of the seal, but he isn't sure what. It might have something to do with October 6, something…" he trailed off.

Silence only broken by the quiet sobs of Ino and Sakura hung in the air for several long minutes. Inoichi was ready to scoop his daughter up and leave the room, Hokage be damn, this place was full of sorrow and he didn't want her to cry any more.

"We should reach out to one of our allies and request assist," one of the elders chimed.

"I already have. Seal masters and mind readers, nothing."

"Torture," the other Elder stated.

"Are you serious?" Inoichi countered

"Danzo has proposed-"

"I assure you, there is nothing that Lord Danzo can do that we haven't already tried," Inoichi snapped.

"We need that information," The first elder said.

It didn't have to be said. He didn't have to say it. It was pretty clear, he thought, but saying it would drive home that fact and clear out any lingering doubts. No matter how terrible the news was. "There is no way to recover Umino Iruka's memories."

And then Naruto broke.

* * *

It seemed a bit surreal, to come to terms that he didn't know anything. Well that wasn't completely true. He knew his name and his birthplace. Oh and he knew how to use chopsticks and pull his pants up. Those were important things to know. Those jutsu he knew counted too, a small part of his brain reminded him. That shinobi part he couldn't seem to get rid of no matter how many times he tried to seal it.

That was another thing he knew. October 6th he had been trying to seal away his shinobiness and failed. Miserably.

He sat staring at the opposite wall. He didn't like that wall. It was discolored and there was this dripping sound coming from it. Iruka swallowed.

The dripping sound started to grow louder with it his heart started to pound. His pulse rate jumped.

He didn't like that wall.

He didn't like the dripping.

He dimly became aware that his breath was coming in short burst. His legs had been drawn up close to him. Pain started quite suddenly and he bit down on a cry as it felt like giant claws were raking their way across his back. Then something dark started to pull away from the wall. It had large fangs, blood red and dripping. It's large maul opening.

He became aware that he was screaming, a blood-curling scream that scratched at every corner of the room. Then something was flowing into his body, and if he hadn't lost it before he was losing it now. His body jerked and hands lashed out. Words tumbled from his lips follow by a blast of chakra. Then reality snapped back into place.

The dripping, the pain, and the monster were gone along with his energy. Dropping to his knees with a loud crack, Iruka slumped forward and vomited. His body was shaking. His mind was running a mile a minute, analyzing everything that had just happened and quickly filing everything and pulling out whatever references there was. It was comforting in a weird way even as he tried to throw up his stomach. This was the surest thing for him right now, the shinobi part of him that wouldn't leave, was so comforting.

A hacking cough finally caught his attention. Looking up took more energy then it should, widening his eyes was merely a reaction to the surprise he felt when his spotted the ANBU laying slump against the discolored wall and standing next to him Danzo. Iruka quickly moved to his feet.

"You remember me," the man said. Danzo had a sever frown, like his face muscles didn't know how to smile any more. The right part of his face was covered in bandages.

"Not really," Iruka replied through gasping breaths. It wasn't a total lie. He didn't know exactly who Danzo was. What he did know was that he had a strong dislike for him.

"What do you know?" It was a simple question, but Iruka could tell there was a multitude of answers. Danzo was looking for a very specific answer and he had just tried to scare it out of him, no not scare.

Torture.

The thought sat heavy in his aching belly. He swallowed, unable to stop from showing his nervousness, and that was a mistake he could tell from the way Danzo narrowed his one good eye with a calculating look.

"You're going to have to be more specific. Cause I seem to know a lot of things. Like the right way to put on sandals. You see most people start with their right but the best way is to-"

Danzo slammed the end of his cane onto the tile floor with a thwack. "I don't care for your mind games Umino."

"Really," Iruka knew he should just close his mouth, but he pushed anyways. "You look like a man who enjoys psychological games."

"I was merely testing your mental state before I paid a visit."

"And I was merely testing you're bodyguards ribcage, before I test yours."

"Ever the quick wit."

"I know I don't like you."

"Then we have a mutual understanding."

There were shouts coming from the hallway. The medics, well they took their sweet time. He'd need to have a talk with the Fifth about them. Danzo looked over his shoulder and then knelt down next to the ANBU. The Fifth burst into the room, yanking the door off its hinges as she entered. Danzo looked at her then Iruka, "Satoshi," he said before he and the ANBU disappeared into smoke.

The word slammed him against him like a ton of bricks. Something deep in the forest library reacted to that…name, he realized.

"Iruka!" the Fifth's voice sounded so far away.

Iruka felt himself falling, then nothing.

* * *

Well. It has been quite awhile. I really wanna thank everyone who has reviewed and followed me for the last several years and apologize that I have kept you all waiting for so long. I need to complete this series, I made a promise to a lot of people I would and you best believe I will do my very damn best to draw this and Ravings of a Mad Man to a close. It'll be hard as I'm also doing a masters degree and working on other projects, but I simply can't keep putting this off.

I hope you all will stick with me to the end of this series and beyond!

Love always,

Petague Killaboo


	2. House Arrest

There were seldom few places like Konoha. Unlike the colorless Sand Village and the muggy gray of Mist, Konoha was a village of colors. It was loud with life, children laughter during the day and drunken ninja songs at night. It was his home, and one he was always happy to return.

After the travesty of Umino Iruka's rescue, which had mobilized nearly every leaf ninja and started a small-scale war with Rock, the village had more a less returned to normalcy. A non-aggression pact had been signed between the two villages and compensation was being issued for the loss of life and resources on both sides. On the surface the world had returned to order, but beneath there were still issues to be dealt with in the shadows hunted by the ninja.

The early spring sun had begun to melt the snow turning some of the dirt paths slushy. The evening air still carried the winter's chill and chased children back into their homes before the sun disappeared behind the Hokage Monument. Kakashi limped his way out from the BBQ shop. His last mission had been rough, chasing stray ninja back over the boarder and escorting a young woman to her home village at the same time might have been pushing it. Dealing with the squabbling team 7 definitely didn't make the mission go any faster.

Thinking of his team he realized that the arguments taking place were more for Naruto's benefit, a distraction by his friends to keep his depression away. Ever since the announcement that Umino had lost nearly all his memories, the teen had become subdued, his childish cheerfulness missing. Another factor that didn't help the kid was the reveal of his demon mode. Having lost control during the battle and the people that had been sacrificed to stop him, it brought back a lot of memories for the older shinobi. For Naruto, it was a reminder of the danger he carried within him and the reason why so many in the village feared him.

Kakashi wish he could do more for his young charge, but even he couldn't break whatever seal Iruka had used. The sharingan would just spin wildly until he became dizzy trying to track all the little strings that were coiling around in Umino's head. From what he last heard, the group trying to break the seal had been at a standstill for three months. Not even their allies' best seals masters could help. What a time for Jryiah to be dead, Kakashi thought.

The smell of his favorite BBQ invaded his musing and caused his stomach to rumble painfully. He stepped up his pace as much as his injured leg would allow and ignored the protest of his chakra-exhausted limbs. So focused in getting home, he found himself instantly confused as to why he was suddenly on the ground, face planted firmly in the muddy street. He should get up, but he didn't want to see the tragedy that had befallen his meal. Besides the ground felt wonderful, exhaustion made everything feel wonderful after awhile, and he contemplated just sleeping there. Not like ninjas haven't sleep in the middle of the street before. Missions were hard. Some brave villagers might even take pity on him and move him to the side of the road instead. He's done that once or twice himself. He'd even given one nin he found in an ally a blanket. Yeah, sleeping here would do just fine.

"Does the mud taste better than this food?" asked a voice. The unmistakable sound of foam rubbing against foam drifted to Kakashi's ears. He's head instantly shoot up to find a man with short brown hair and a scar across his nose sniffing at the meat, "Doesn't smell like it would." He reached into the plastic bag and pulled out the chopstick. Kakashi gaped at the man who sat cross-legged before him in a hospital gown and a doctor's jacket. Unimo took a bite and hummed.

"That's mine," Kakashi said. No wait, that shouldn't be his first words. He should ask him why he's not in the—

"Yep," Umino smiled and took another bite, "and it's good. I should stop by there sometime." He looked at the napkin with the BBQ restaurant's emblem.

Kakashi struggled to sit up. Umino made no move to help him, choosing to sit and watch him closely with that all to familiar analyzing look, munching away on Kakashi's dinner. Once Kakashi had more or less gotten into a seated position, Umino held out a piece of meat. Kakashi glared with his uncovered eye and pointedly looked at the container. Umino shrugged and continued to eat. "That's mine," he said.

Umino popped a sautéed zucchini into his mouth, "thanks for the meal," he replied.

By now several people were noticing the bizarre scene. Kakashi clenched his jaw. His mood plummeted. He had thought he'd been done with Umino when he delivered him back to Konoha and attempted to undo the sealing. Why now, or more like what great being had he ticked off to have the man tossed back into his life? "Shouldn't you be in the hospital?" Kakashi growled, clambering to his feet. His meal was gone, and it looked like instant ramen would be filling his empty stomach tonight.

Umino stood with him finishing off the last of the veggies. "I was getting bored."

"The fifth will lose her head if she finds out you got passed her guards," Kakashi wiped some of the mud from his face and flicked it back to the ground.

"She should train them better on charka detection. It doesn't take a whole lot to misdirect someone's attention with a ginjutsu," Umino walked to a nearby trashcan and tossed the empty container.

"I don't think they thought you would try to escape, after you've been so cooperative."

Umino returned to Kakashi with that same analyzing look he had come to hate. It always made him feel bare and that wasn't a feeling Kakashi liked at all. "I've been cooped up for 6 months. I'm starting to go crazy."

"There's a reason they're keeping you—"

"Yeah. Yeah," Umino waved a dismissive hand. He suddenly grabbed Kakashi and tugged him down the street. Kakashi tried to shrug him off, but Umino's grasp was surprisingly strong, or he was weaker than he excepted. "Let me pay you back for that meal."

"Where are we going?"

"Home," Unimo said, "or at least I hope it's still home."

A few more streets later and much struggling between Umino and him, Kakashi found himself standing in front of 5 story building with a little green house connected to it. The building had different colored bricks and wood that made up its structure. Flowers and shrubs were beginning to bloom with vines snaking up the front. A vegetable garden stretched the length of the green house, and a large bare tree spanned the width of the roof.

Umino made his way through the brown rickety-looking fence and knocked on the red door. An elderly man with a stooped back, wiry gray hair, and large glasses answered. He smiled and reached up to Umino.

"Iruka, my boy," the elder smiled. Then he pinched Umino's cheeks and pulled, "you're late on your rent and that damn Hokage won't pay me."

"I know, I know," Umino struggled, "I'll find away to pay you back. I promise."

"Oh you think you still have a place here, do ya?" the man released him.

"You wouldn't throw a poor kid like me out on the streets, would ya?" Umino asked rubbing his cheeks.

"I sure would!"

"Jiji," Umino whined dropping to his knees and hugging the short man around the waist, "don't be like that. Think of all the good times we had." The old man crossed his arms and looked away. "I'll make you some tea and cookies. You're favorite, with nuts and chocolate."

"And eggplant miso," the old man asked looking at him with one eye.

"All the eggplant," Umino said, "and you'll have a conversation guest." Both of them turned to look at Kakashi, who suddenly realized he missed his chance to escape. Damn sleep deprivation, always screwing with his head.

"Let me get the stuff," the old man said, "you ain't got nothing in your fridge." The man handed him a key.

"Sure thing," Umino stood up and turned to Kakashi, "hey great ninja, help the old man out. I'll meet you upstairs."

Now was a good chance to escape, Kakashi thought.

"You like eggplant miso, right?" Umino called from the entrance of the apartment building.

His stomach growled. Damn it.

The old man stepped out of the house with two baskets and handed one to him. He followed the man into the building. Its main hallway was made of plaster and had pictures of the different Hokage hanging around. Jiji led him up a winding staircase and stopped on the third floor, thankfully before Kakashi's leg gave out.

Iruka stood in front of an open door with a confused look.

"Something the matter, kid?" Jiji asked.

"I don't remember my place being so…big," Umino answered stepping into the apartment.

"I gave you most of the third floor and one room on the fourth," jiji said hobbling through the door and down the hall.

It opened into a spacious living room with an open kitchen dived by a single island. Pots and pans hung from a rack over the island, different shaped knives stuck to the wall, and most of the kitchen utilities were made out of stainless steel and granite. Umino stood in the middle of the room gaping at it. Kakashi followed the old man also surprised at the chunin's home.

Almost every wall had pictures of kids and drawings, books and scrolls littered every table and filled up all the bookshelves. Two halls branched off from the main living room, and a staircase led from the far end of the living room up. Umino made his way down the hall opposite the kitchen. Kakashi followed closely behind, leaving jiji to fiddle around with the stove.

The hall had several doors, each door with a different symbol that Kakashi realized was every ninja village emblem. Umino was opening each door. Each room was cluttered with scrolls and books. A single writing desk sat in the middle. When they reach the last room, a symbol of a village that Kakashi was unfamiliar with, Umino doubled back to the living room. The second hall was much like the last and was next to the kitchen. At the last door was Konoha's symbol. Umino pushed it open and stared. It was much bigger then all the other rooms, with more scrolls than books. He stepped into the room and pulled out one of the scrolls and discovered it was a containment scroll. He walked to the table at the center and rolled it open to reveal several seals.

"Hey jiji," Umino called, "has anyone been here?" Umino pressed his hand to one of the seals. Papers burst out filling the table up.

"No one," jiji answered pushing passed the flabbergasted copy nin.

"Really?" Umino asked in disbelief. "Not even Lady Hokage?"

"Yep. I've brought her several books when she asked for them, but no one has been here to look around," jiji rubbed his chin and looked at a piece of paper.

Umino frown, "Why?"

"My guess is that they didn't think you were keeping anything important here. They kept calling you a chunin at the tower," Jiji grumbled, "well if Satoshi was still here, he'd give them a good talking too."

"Satoshi?"

"You're senesi. He taught you all kinds of things and even encouraged this habit of yours." Jiji waved at the room.

Kakashi looked at the different scrolls on the shelf nearest him carefully listening to the conversation. He paused when he found a shelf labeled dangerous leaf nin. Many of the scrolls were yellowed with age. He assumed that all the scrolls in the room where containment. And then there was a book. It was leather bound with a symbol he knew very well. It was on the backs of all his nin dogs. Kakashi nicked it off the shelf and opened it. The first thing that greeted him was a picture of his father. His breath caught in his chest.

Suddenly Umino was there slamming the book close. "Don't put your dirty hands all over my stuff."

"What is this?" Kakashi demanded gesturing to the entire room.

"I don't know," Umino answered, he looked just as confused as Kakashi felt.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean." Umino glared. "Jiji can you show him the bathroom while I get dinner going?"

"We're not done here," Kakashi growled.

"You look like death, Hatake," Umino pointed at his mud-covered chest. "And I'm not kicking you out. I owe you meal after all. We can talk about it then."

Jiji, or Suzu, as the old man introduced himself, led Kakashi to the small second floor. There were two doors; one had a sign that read, 'Satoshi.' Suzu ushered him into the second room. Much like down stairs, nearly every bit of wall space had been filled with pictures and drawings. There was a twin size bed pushed into one corner of the room and a small side table that boxed it in. There were more papers in here, a glance showed them to be half graded students work. Suzu pushed him into the bathroom and gave quick instructions on how to use the shower before disappearing. He return only once with another set of clothes and a mask.

By the time Kakashi had finished showering, his stomach was threatening to eat itself and the heat from the water nearly knocked him out twice. He had used his time to formulate several questions and counter strategies for when Umino tried to get dodgy with answers. He pulled on the new mask, and slipped into the shirt. He knew he was a tall and lanky person, but whoever had own this was massive. The shirt fit him like a dress and the pants would have slipped completely off him had it not had drawstrings. He had to roll the hem of his pants up just to keep his feet from snagging as he walked. When he chanced a glance in the mirror it took him a moment to realize that it was him and not a child.

Kakashi carefully made his way downstairs, and froze on the last few steps. He turned around, but before he could rush back up a very angry voice stopped him. "Kakashi," Tsunade said, turning to face him, "are you feeling better?" Her eyes scanned over him. For a moment her angry expression broke into amusement. He was a sight.

Kakashi smiled and rubbed the back of his head, "I'm a bit starved." He tried not to look at the Anbu in the room, but could feel their mirth.

"Miso is done," Umino chimed cheerfully, tapping the bowl at the island.

Tsunade waved a hand, "your meal awaits."

"Nah, Hokage-sama," he stepped off the last step, "something tells me you're a bit angry."

"Not at all Hatake-san," she grinned a very unpleasant grin, "I was just talking with Iruka about ginjutsus and their applications used with escapes from hospitals. Maybe you'd like to chime in?"

The Anbu shifted, shame wafting off them.

"Well," he begun giving Tsunade a wide birth as he made his way to the bowl, "if used correctly even a small ginjustsu can trick the most skillful of ninjas."

"And how would one be able to do that?"

"I don't know," Umino said, "I just had an idea and it worked."

Silence. Kakashi looked from Umino to Tsunade then at his bowl and wondered if it would taste good enough as a last meal.

"Iruka," Tsunade sighed. All the anger slipped away with the exhale. She sagged onto the couch next to Suzu who was happily munching away on his cookies. He offered one to her, which she took.

"I apologize," Umino said.

"That's not good enough."

"I know, but we've gotten nowhere. So I thought maybe Jiji might know something, but you made it so I could have no visitors. And no one was listening to me anymore."

"I see. And do you know something Suzu-san?"

"About the memory thing?" The old man sipped thoughtfully, "of course. I told you before."

"You said he does it all the time," Tsunade rubbed her temple as she nibbled on the cookie. "You didn't state whether you knew how to undo it or not."

"Yes, because I don't. The only one who does is Iruka and Satoshi, may he rest in peace."

"Dead men tell no tells, and neither do you." She looked at Umino.

"Maybe I do," Umino said, staring at one of the halls. "You saw the rooms, Hokage. It's got to be here."

"Here, in all these papers? How long do you think it'll take to find? Do you think we have all the time in the world?" Her anger returned.

"Why do we need it anyways?" Suzu asked, "if it's lost then nobody can get it, right?"

"That information was gathered by an enemy. Just because it's lost, doesn't mean the enemy has forgotten it too."

"The way to unseal my memories has got to be somewhere in here. I'll find it. I promise you I will," Umino said.

Tsunade looked at him, then at Kakashi who was sipping on the Miso. "Okay," she nodded, "Okay. We'll change our efforts then. Kakashi, you will be Iruka's back up."

"Wait, what?"

"Iruka, you are under house arrest until further notice."

"Hold on!"

"I want round the clock watch on this location. And let the rest of the memory recovery team know where Iruka is."

The Anbu bounded off one after the other.

"Tsunade!"

She turned to Kakashi.

"I don't think this type of mission suites my skill sets," Kakashi tried to find a convincing argument. He did not want to get stuck protecting Umino again. First time was bad enough.

Tsunade stood up and approached him. She waved a glowing green hand over his head and chest. "You're under house arrest," she smiled.

"What!"

"For failure to report after duty, failure to report to the hospital to care for your injuries, and not reporting on Umino Iruka's whereabouts."

"I…I."

"If you don't want this to go on your record, or be branded a traitor for not following your Hokage's orders, you'll stay here and assist Iruka on locating the information to break the jutsu." She stared at him.

He stared back.

The old man coughed in the background.

Iruka spooned some more soup into a bowl.

"As you command," Kakashi sighed.

Tsunade smiled and puffed out of the room.

* * *

Sorry for any grammar errors and the like. I'm trying to get this finish, but I've got so many other projects I'm working on I've placed this at the bottom of this list. Moving forward I'll try to get better at posting more regularly.

Please believe me, I really do enjoy writing this and Ravings of a Mad Man. They're some of my favorite pieces of work. And I love when people review, it helps me through the hard times and encourages me to keep working.

Until next time my lovelies!

-Petague Killaboo


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